The Cuceb of Chilam Balam Books: Difrasismos and Intertextuality

Abstract

The Cuceb is one of the most mysterious texts in the Books of Chilam Balam written during the early Colonial Period. Previous scholars have commented that it recounts a fictitious katun and contains events from different epochs ranging from the 13th to the 17th centuries. The text itself incorporates allusions of historical and mythological stories with origins from the Postclassic and Classic Periods. In this paper I will examine some expressions and key parts of the Cuceb. I propose that these passages interconnect with other texts in the Books of Chilam Balam and Paris codex, which together point to the collapse of Mayapan, the last capital of the Northern Yucatan.